8 weeks and still in horrible pain

My little boy turned 8 weeks old on Wednesday and I am still having tons of pain in breastfeeding him. Things started out rough with mY having to be induced and a very long 37 hour labor. My milk did not come in for 7 days during which I dry pumped every 2 hours. I had very flat nipples and at this point the right one did eventually pop out but nothing like what I've seen on other Mommies in breastfeeding videos and my left nipple never has. Breastfeeding on the right is painful but bearable but breastfeeding on the left is miserable everytime. I described it to my husband as if you knew you had to take a hammer and bash your own thumb every 2-3 hours, you feel sick thinking about it but have to do it anyway. I used nipple shields up front until my little boy learned to pull the nipple out on his own and then had a time getting him off of them but stuck it out and did. I use the breast shells that put pressure around the nipple to draw it out but have to use them on my left nipple every time I feed. Does anyone have any advice or words of encouragement? I am determined to feed my baby but have never been in so much pain and so miserable. The lactation consultants at the hospital said to give it two weeks and then said six weeks and I've read that at the most it can take a couple of months for the unlucky few for nipples to pop but I'm getting really disheartened. Also i get sharp and achy pains in my breast while feeding and also when not feeding. So any tips would be a blessing. Thankyou.

Re: 8 weeks and still in horrible pain

My left side had a lot of adhesions in the nipple that my son had to break through. It was horribly painful, you have all my sympathies

Have you seen an IBCLC? I saw one several times and she finally diagnosed posterior tongue tie that my pediatrician and other lactation consultants at the hospital did not see. That was a little after 5 weeks, he got clipped by an ENT, and everything went up hill from there. I am not saying tongue tie might be your problem, but seeing an IBCLC might help because they can spot things that others might not.

With the pain in your breasts between feeding I would start to worry about mastitis. Make sure, if you are bleeding at all, to clean your nipples off after feeding and put some antibiotic ointment on (like polysporin) and then wipe that off before feeding again. I avoided mastitis when I was bleeding for 5 weeks straight and I think its because I did this. This was the advice I got from the LC.

Re: 8 weeks and still in horrible pain

I know you said the LC's talked to you, but have any actually SEEN you, and are any IBCLC's? Because it's so painful on the one side, it makes me wonder if you need a little help with positioning.

Has your baby been evaluated for tongue tie? There are several different types. All can cause extreme pain to the mother.

Has anyone evaluated you for thrush?

Has anyone suggested you try all purpose nipple ointment to help heal any cracks or sore areas you might have? (you don't mention any though)

Is it painful the whole feeding, or just at the beginning? The beginning can often be very painful, like the first 30-60 seconds can be excruciating, but it shouldn't hurt after that. If its' the whole feeding, it would make me wonder about latch problems. And you need hands on help to fix those.